While we have now considered the case from bottom to top, we did not originally figure on the young American going out to the Philippines otherwise than single. In this behalf Mr. Arnold himself says:
I do not think it can be fairly called other than risky for an American to attempt to practise love in a cottage in the Philippines.
Says the late Arthur W. Fergusson—who gave his life to the Philippine Civil Service—in his annual report for 1905, as Executive Secretary:
The one great stumbling-block, and which no legislative body can eradicate, is the fact that very few Americans intend to make the Philippines their permanent home, or even stay here for any extended period. This is doubtless due to the location of the islands, their isolation from centres of civilization and culture, the enervating climate, lack of entertainment and desirable companionship, and distance from the homeland. Every clerk, no matter what his ideals or aspirations, realizes after coming here that he must at some time in the future return to the United States and begin all over again. After spending a year or more in the islands, the realization that the sooner the change is made the better, becomes more acute. This condition causes, doubtless, the class of men who are not adventurous or fond of visiting strange climes to think twice before accepting an appointment for service in these islands, and generally to remain away, and a great majority of those who do come here to leave the service again after a very short period of duty.[1]
Then Mr. Fergusson comes to the obvious but apparently unattainable remedy, which he says is
to make a Philippine appointment a permanent means of livelihood by providing an effective system of transfers to the Federal service after a reasonable period of service here. * * * Under the present regulations influence must be brought to bear at Washington in order that requisition may be made by the Chief of some bureau there for the services of a clerk desiring to transfer.
You see, if a Washington Bureau, say the Coast and Geodetic Survey, or the Geological Survey, sends a man out to the Islands, he is never for a moment separated from the Federal Civil Service or the Federal Government’s pay-roll. The same is true of civilian employees of the army. But the man in the Insular Service, when he wants to get back home, is little better off than if he were in the employ of the Cuban Government, or the British Indian Government, or that of the Dutch East Indies. Mr. Fergusson also says:
It is believed to be useless to try to influence men to come out here unless there is something permanent offered to them at the expiration of a reasonable term of service. * * * The average European is content to live and die “east of Suez”; the average American is not. * * * I am firmly convinced that a permanent service under present conditions is entirely out of the question.
How can you have “a permanent service” unless you have a definite declared policy? Why not declare the purpose of our Government with the regard to the Islands?
In his annual report for 1906[2] Mr. Fergusson says: